Mx900 FirmwareOperating system · Verifone

CVE-2019-14718

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Verifone MX900 series Pinpad Payment Terminals with OS 30251000 have Insecure Permissions, with resultant svc_netcontrol arbitrary command injection and privilege escalation.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The Verifone MX900 series pinpad payment terminals running OS 30251000 have insecure file/system permissions that allow unauthorized access to the svc_netcontrol service. This service contains a command injection vulnerability that can be exploited to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges, enabling a local attacker to gain full control of the device.

MitigationApply vendor-provided firmware/security updates from Verifone to address the permission and command injection issues. Restrict physical and network access to payment terminals to minimize attack surface.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Mx900 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:= 30251000

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify device model
    Check if the device is a Verifone MX900 series pinpad terminal. This can typically be done via physical inspection of the device label or through device discovery/network inventory that reports the device model.
    Affected if Device is not a Verifone MX900 series terminal - not affected by this specific CVE.
  2. Check firmware version
    Access the terminal's diagnostic or admin interface and retrieve the firmware version. On the MX900, this is typically shown as 30251000 in the system information or version display screen.
    Affected if Firmware version is exactly 30251000 - this is the affected version.
  3. Verify svc_netcontrol service accessibility
    Attempt to access or communicate with the svc_netcontrol service on the terminal. This is typically done through the device's service port or network interface if exposed.
    Affected if The svc_netcontrol service is accessible from an unauthorized network position or local unprivileged account.
  4. Check file permissions on service
    If you have administrative access to the terminal, inspect the file permissions on the svc_netcontrol service binary and its configuration files. Look for world-readable or world-writable permissions that should not exist.
    Affected if File permissions on svc_netcontrol are overly permissive (e.g., world-readable/writable).
  5. Look for signs of command injection exploitation
    Review any available logs on the terminal for suspicious commands or unexpected network connections. Check for new or unexpected processes, scripts, or network connections originating from the terminal.
    Affected if Evidence exists of unexpected command execution, new files, or unauthorized network connections originating from the terminal.

A user is affected if they are running a Verifone MX900 terminal with firmware version 30251000 and the svc_netcontrol service is accessible without proper authentication.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-provided firmware/security updates from Verifone to address the permission and command injection issues. Restrict physical and network access to payment terminals to minimize attack surface.

Fix this in Mx900 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,840
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-14718 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data